The Meta

vc stands for victory check

The Biggest Buyer Meeting Ever ™ went off without a hitch, and as a reward, the boss presented me with a fat bonus check!

(Babe, are you reading? I think I see crab and artichoke dip in your future…or maybe Korean BBQ…)

When I initially received the recap email from my boss, who was still on the east coast at the time, I didn’t feel too confident. It was mostly complimentary, but not glowing. I’m just used to bosses who are more expressive. Then again, that may be my years in L.A. talking, considering hyperbole for effect is de rigeur in that town. My current boss is more mellow, more subdued. Hey, I’d take a fat check over verbal praise any day.

*happy dance*

p.s. Thanks for your supportive words and such, guys. You know who you are. 🙂

oh jeebus, it’s so not kinky it’s not even funny. we’re “classic with a twist” and we’re not talking nipple-clamp twisting either. but, apparently, once upon a time, this company used to do private label for one of the big fetish shops in town. heh.

but yeah, it’s all leather, suede and wool. jackets and coats, with the occasional shirt and vest. men’s and women’s. only about 30% wool and 95% of our wool jackets have at least some leather detailing. we’ve experimented with linen, but it’s unlikely that we’ll do that again. our expertise is leather. this company’s been around for 80+ years.

sure, it’s aggravating sometimes when you’re not getting consistency, but that’s what approval bundles and control skins are for. control skins are like pantone swatches–every skin should match back to the control skin as close as possible. approval bundles are the first set (a dozen skins or so) that the tannery ships to us to show the quality of the bulk production. if it doesn’t match the control skin, we ship it back, but for us, it’s rare, because this company has been doing this for so long and knows which tanneries to use.

in actuality, it’s not that different from sorting out fabrics that come from different dye lots. at my last job, we custom dyed practically everything and it was a major pain in my flat asian ass! at least with leather, people expect the uniqueness that comes from individual skins–that’s almost how you can tell leather is real–the almost imperceptible incongruencies. people don’t expect that from fabric.